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As per usual, I will provide quick first impressions followed by a more thorough review once I've had a month or two to use it (still forthcoming on my other reviews).

First off, the knife is thin: really really thin. It isn't absurdly thin behind the edge, being fairly convexed for a knife with such a thin spine (but as it does need an intial sharpening this will only get thinner as I work it into shape). As you can see, here is the choil:

The spine is positively anemic. The fit and finish is quite good everywhere except for the gaps between handle and blade. These are par for the course.

The knife is 51mm tall at the heel and 248mm long---so a long 240 gyuto to be sure. However, it is incredibly light, befitting a knife of its thinness, and surprisingly stiff as well.

The knife has a similar profile to the Goko White #1, but has a slightly greater up-curve toward the heel. That may be a peculiarity of this individual knife.

The knife came, as some others have experienced, with basically no edge. No problem, of course, that is to be expected with J-knives, and the knife seemed so thin that I assumed it would sharpen up in no time. This was user error. The Goko's 19C27 turns out to be fairly wear-resistant, much closer to the VG-10 I've experienced than any carbon steel in my collection, which is the majority of what I have been purchasing recently. It did a respectable job on onions, peppers, garlic, ginger, and carrots this evening, but I will need to do some more work on it before providing more complete thoughts because it is not up to my standards. It will slice paper, but not push cut it, and it took a little too much force going through certain ingredients. If I presented it to most people in its current form, they would be wowed by its lightness (as was I) and impressed by its sharpness. It needs more than 40 minutes (caveat: including setup time, and being extra careful of the finish), for a sharpener of my skill level with my stones, to get the edge where it needs to be. However, even in this state, I can tell how thin it is by how it goes through ingredients. I hope some other people will share their results as they get a chance, and I will of course update this once I can provide further thoughts. For now, at least I have some pictures and impressions on OOTB condition.

Last edited by estayton on Fri Feb 21, 2014 10:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Melampus

Post subject: Re: Goko Damascus 240mm Gyuto Review

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 10:17 pm

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ESTAYTON <> If you lie the ruler on top of the blade, from tip of heel to tip of tip is 248?

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estayton

Post subject: Re: Goko Damascus 240mm Gyuto Review

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 10:25 pm

Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2014 2:57 pmPosts: 597

Yes, the ruler there is just there in the photo for scale. I did the measurement in a straight line from the heel (actually, what I've seen referred to as the "chin," the tip of the heel) to the very tip of the knife, lying the ruler right on top of the blade. It came to 247.7mm as close as I can say with the markings on that ruler, and that is just a guess. Definitely between 247 and 248, closer to 248.

Lunatic

Post subject: Re: Goko Damascus 240mm Gyuto Review

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 10:41 pm

Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2014 12:00 amPosts: 678

I was a little dumbfounded when you said it would take you 40 minutes on your stones to get a new bevel working.

Now I don't know your setup but even with a 1K start to a J-nat finish and two strops, I could get it done in about half the time from start to finish The steel is wear resistant but by no means ZDP lol.

The edge profile is very similar, it has belly which I personally don't like all that much which is why I prefer my Kohetsu or takamura over it.

estayton

Post subject: Re: Goko Damascus 240mm Gyuto Review

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 10:49 pm

Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2014 2:57 pmPosts: 597

You are correct in that Lunatic. That did include some setup time, stone flattening etc, and I was going fairly carefully so as not to mess up the finish. I started on a 1K, and was almost there by the end but had to put it away for the moment. No dice. Were I a bit more confident in my abilities it would have gone faster. I should have been more specific as to the situation.

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rayong

Post subject: Re: Goko Damascus 240mm Gyuto Review

Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 1:08 pm

Joined: Fri Dec 20, 2013 10:24 amPosts: 318

How well does it sharpen compared to a carbon knife? 19c27 is supposed to have large carbides and these limit how sharp the knife can get.

Last edited by rayong on Sat Feb 22, 2014 3:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

LucaBrasi

Post subject: Re: Goko Damascus 240mm Gyuto Review

Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 2:23 pm

Joined: Thu Mar 21, 2013 1:06 pmPosts: 486

I took mine to a Japanese natural pre-polish stone that I'd guess is a round 10k or more. Took it great, has held it great. It may have larger carbide size than aebl, but still takes an extremely fine edge. I've never heard anyone complain that a suisin inox honyaki couldn't take a sharp edge.

Los Altos

Post subject: Re: Goko Damascus 240mm Gyuto Review

Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 3:56 pm

Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2012 2:14 pmPosts: 134

Jeff B wrote:That's a nice looking board you have estayton.

Looks like a Boardsmith

Estayton, I agree, it though it took longer to sharpen as well, despite being so thin behind the edge. I had to do my sharpening routine twice before I got a good edge.

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